Empress: A Biography
by Fred Merkle
Summary: Empress: Padme Amidala and the Rise of the Imperial Republic - A close examination of the turbulent life and reign of the founder of the Imperial Republic.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Prologue: A New Era

"_The powers of the Empire must be used without even a blink of hesitation in order to ensure the safety and the security of our citizens and sentients. Many lives have been sacrificed in our pursuit of this just cause, and many more will continue to be sacrificed. It is unfortunate, but it is also necessary that our generation bear these terrible burdens so that our children, so that our future generations are spared from the pains and losses of war."_

_Empress Padme Naberrie Amidala Skywalker, Coronation Address, Year Zero_

Perhaps the irony of such a scene was lost only on those who were most closely involved: the politicians. Only years before, the Senator representing Naboo and the Chommell sector had been publicly shamed, persecuted, and forced into exile due to an illicit affair that played out like a sordid holo-drama in front of Coruscant and the entire Galaxy. Less than a decade later, blazing through obstacles with sheer force and military strength, the former Senator and Queen had returned triumphantly to the capital planet. Long established political dynasties of the what were now the remnants of the former Galactic Republic could only watch on the sidelines as the new Empress and her royal Consort, the former Jedi turned General Anakin Skywalker, lead the way in disassembling and reassembling, in some places from scratch, the constitution that had held together the Republic for over ten-thousand years.

Yet, lying beneath the surface but just as responsible for their astonishing and devastating rise to power are one, if not two, master politicians who knew exactly what was required to maneuver themselves into the positions that they were in now. They had forcible control over the government, but rebuilding from the inside out would take more than just a show of force and power. Facing this new administration was the very real and pressing tasks of reorganizing and reallocating the various factions that still scampered for political, monetary, and military power and control. The fate of the Senate still had to be decided, as did the fate of the Jedi, all in the face of the on-going war against the Confederation of Independent Systems.

No historian will deny the fact that these two individuals were able to single-handedly change the fate of an entire Galaxy. Certainly, events shaped by individual and collective forces had moved and collided in the most favorable way for them. The Jedi and others would eventually make their own moves, thus forcing the hand of newly crowned Empress and sealing the fates of all involved, for better or for worse.

But a reappraisal of these two once in a thousand generation individuals reveals two extraordinarily normal, somewhat mundane yet exceedingly epic, but most importantly, two very _human_ beings. Based on new documents and holo's only recently revealed to the public, we also see two expert manipulators who worked tirelessly and meticulously to ensure that only they themselves controlled the serendipital forces working in their favor. But who were the real Skywalkers? The answer can only be revealed by examining every facet of the personal, spiritual, political, and despotical sides of Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker.


	2. Chap 1: The Daughter of Naboo Pt 1

Those who have tuned in thus far, my heartfelt thanks for reading!

Part 1: Beginnings

Chapter 1: The Daughter of Naboo

"…_and I found the political atmosphere in the capitol…to be infinitely more complex than the local customs that I had grown used to, and as a matter of fact, quite fond of. There is more tension here…the participants are more assertive yet deceptive of their own interests…I would dare say that many of the practices are even cutthroat, in a sense. To me, this was quite a contrast to the politics of Naboo, which amazingly, seems to still possess a sense of naiveté that is very much lacking in the rest of this Galaxy._

_ -Palpatine, Memoirs_

"…_unfortunately, I do not believe my friends and colleagues back home could even fathom the intricacies of hostility and inefficiency that seems to be the driving force behind every member of this Senate. I sincerely doubt they would be able to function in such an arena."_

_-Queen Amidala, upon her first visit to the Republic Senate during the Naboo Blockade_

_Crisis_

All politics are local, and none were more local than the rural villages of the planet of Naboo. Before the advent of the powerful native politicians Palpatine and Amidala, the small Mid-Rim planet was the very definition of obscure. Located between the Hydrian way and the Corellian run on the edge of the Mid-Rim, the planet lacked the cosmopolitan and urbane culture that so dominated the lives and politics of the Inner Worlds. Despite its location, however, the citizens of the planet possessed a well-bred sophistication, backed by a history of relative peace and a stable, centralized government confident in its sovereignty.

The Chancellor Palpatine once referred to Naboo as, "in reality, a planet with the heart of a village." Its small size inherently prevented excessive colonization by its founding elders, and later, along with its remote location, discouraged any major influxes in immigration. Furthermore, a people deeply engrained with a sense of restraint and rationality led to tepid population growth rates for generation after generation. Outward migration to other worlds trickled at a constant rate every year, but never once posed a threat to the survival of the planet as it did to such abandoned worlds as Namosi and Dantooine.

The result was a planet that embraced as well as embodied the words of its former Senator. Families and clans were integral to the social and political scenes, though few families reached a point in prestige and wealth as to gain the ability to dominate and exclude the rest of the populace, as is common on many other self-inclusive planets. Indeed, many a historian has pointed out that a socialized sense of social justice among most of the planets inhabitants is what led it to its current status quo; no one group or family was to profit at the expense of others (not even the long ruling Jafan Dynasty, which lacked the excesses dynasties in other worlds with similar entrenchment and longevity).

In such a context, it is no wonder that the civil service industry on the planet ranks in the top five percentile of the Galaxy in terms of populace participation and monetary compensation, and to be sure, in local status and prestige as well. Though a few members of the Naberrie family dabbled in the political field once every few generations, most were content to lead private and content lives as teachers, social workers, civil engineers and architects, and members of a small but functional bureaucracy. A few dabbled into the artistic fields in which the planet prides itself in, but arguably none achieved more than moderate success in terms of either fame or merit.

Despite such a modest heritage, Andorro Naberrie was nevertheless bitten by the political bug. The son of a shoemaker and a teacher, Andorro, born 117 BE (Before Empire) was by all accounts considered a prodigy in his rural village of Sewahla. Even at the age of ten, close relatives felt that the young boy had already outgrown his hometown, and an effort was made to send him to Theed in hopes of obtaining a position the highly Service Apprentice Academy. By all accounts Andorro was a model student, and a popular one as well. Despite recalling his time there "as idyllic and at the same time stimulating" of an experience, his there was not enjoyable enough for him to value at the expense of his ambitions. After graduating two years early at the age of fourteen, Andorro obtained an apprenticeship position in the court of the reigning monarch, Queen Erekara.

The young man had never made a secret of his main ambition in life. Indeed, one of the reasons Andorro had pursued his studies so vigorously at the Academy was for the opportunity to fulfill his dream of military glory at the earliest opportunity. "My greatest ambition in this life is to serve my Planet with the noblest of intentions, and if fate smiles upon me, to command and lead the mighty forces of peace on behalf of my Monarch." It was not to be.

With the help of his academic mentors pulling strings behind closed doors, Andorro was offered a position in the staff of General Canae Typho, the Queen's principle commander of the General Infantry. Any hopes of young Andorro's to see immediately action were dimmed when the Treaty of Otoh Gunga was signed, bringing the conflict between the human Naboo and the native Gungans to a close only three months after Andorro's graduation. Meanwhile, the ailing Queen signaled to the court her intentions to disband not only the military, but also the long-reigning Jafan Dynasty. The Queen was barren, and the deaths of the children of her siblings had left the Monarchy without a direct heir, which was required by the Jafan Constitution. Fearing a political crisis so soon after the treaty and seeking to seal her legacy as a peacemaker, Queen Erekara spent her last years rewriting her vision of a Monarchy based on democratic principles.

The groundwork was set when the Queen finally passed in the year 101 BE, as the two principle candidates Vito Parala and Lamne Lanissa were well poised to challenge each other for the throne. The principle issue facing the voters as well as both candidates was the impending disbandment of the military. Parala, a well-connected scholar and dean at the University of Theed, echoed Erekara's view that in lieu of a war, the military was unnecessary and the funds required to maintain it would be better off distributed to various social programs across the planet. Lamne, of the Lanissa family, which had served as the ward of the Jafan Dynasty for hundreds of years, argued firmly that if the threat of military force was removed from the government, it would be an open invitation for the Gungan population, and even off-planet parties, to engage the Naboo in aggressive discourse.

It was no surprise that the young Andorro, now sixteen of age, would be firmly entrenched in the Lanissa camp. Not only did he wish to further his military career, he had recently befriended the reigning Princess of Theed Leia Lanissa, who also happened to be the younger sister of the candidate herself. Andorro reluctantly resigned his commission under Typho to join Leia's entourage as they campaigned among the Naboo. Andorro, who had vowed to the General that "I will return to serve you come Fall, under the reign of my new Queen," found himself comfortable with his new image as a firebrand orator, giving provocative speeches that were often denigrating to the Gungans and overall, displayed a highly paranoid view of non-human species.

His passion for the cause for his cause made Lamne's narrow electoral defeat all the more devastating. Both he and Leia moped for days in the Lanissa family estate, refusing to leave the palace grounds. Unable to take a position under the new King whom he had wholeheartedly denounced on the campaign trail, Andorro enrolled in the University of Theed for the next three years while Leia completed her term as Princess of Theed. In the year 99 BE, the eighteen year old Andorro and the nineteen year old Leia were married with the explicit blessings of the family, including Lamne, who gave a heartfelt toast to the newlywed couple on the eve of the wedding. Their first child, Lanuna, was born a year later, to be followed by a son, Lucca, and a daughter, Winama.

To Be Continued…


End file.
